The story of Roy Hobbs (Robert Redford) and the amazing resurrection
of his baseball career. Once a phenom out a high school, he stops
playing after being shot with a silver bullit by a woman (Barbara
Hershey) whose motive is a bit ridiculous (she seems to be on
a vendetta against sports heroes). She's gone from the film soon
enough, which I'm sure lead more than one viewer believing her
whole character was tacked on to make the story a little easier.
She just doesn't work for me, and since she appeared in the first
half hour it really wasn't a bad start for what would turn out
to be a very good movie.

Glenn Close is amazing in this film as Iris Gaines, Roy's girlfriend
when he was young and seemed to have a great baseball career in
front of him. She meets with him for the first time in over a
decade as he makes his comeback and becomes baseball's oldest
rookie. She has a surprise for him that the viewer will realize
about half way through, but dumb ol' Roy doesn't get it until
the very end.

There were several things that I didn't like in this movie besides
Barbara Hershey's character. Robert Duvall's acting was great
(as always), but his character was a little confusing. He plays
a sportswriter, but for some reason he also illustrates his column
with a cartoon drawing as well. I don't know if this was common
back in 1939, but I wouldn't think a writer would be expected
to draw cartoons as well. It's not like these were little doodles
either, each of his drawings was fantastic and often done during
the game as the situation being depicted in the drawing was still
going on. I just can't believe that he could make these illustrations
in a matter of seconds. Also toward the end of the film he was
working on a drawing when Roy hits a foul ball in the direction
of his writers booth. The ball hits the window in the front of
the booth and the window shatters. Why would there be a glass
window on a press box booth that is right behind home plate? Wouldn't
that window get broke 5-10 times every season. Speaking of things
breaking 5-10 times every season, the most amazing part of Roy's
comeback was that his hand-made bat, nicknamed "Wonderboy",
could last nearly an entire season without breaking. Most players
would go through at least a dozen bats in a season.

Overall this was a very enjoyable movie with perhaps the best
ending in a film... ever. There were some pseudo-plot holes and
parts that were just unbelievable, most of which was caused by
a script that was a little too sloppy. The acting was some of
the best I've ever seen and managed to cover up some of the other
problems. I'll put this one in the "good movie that should
have been better" category. Bull Durham, Field
of Dreams, and Hoosiers are all better movies despite
acting that is below the quality seen here.